129: World War I Before the US (Military Tech, Trenches, Global Armies, Ypres, Verdun & the Somme)

“In Flanders’ fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row.”

This is the story of the first two and a half years of the Great War, particularly, of the Western Front. These are the years leading to the United States’ entry.

After saving two German warships, the Ottoman Empire joins the Great War as a Central Power. Meanwhile, the work of death is moving forward on a scale unlike any other seen. Improved, or altogether new, weapons—rapid firing repeating rifles, machine guns, gas, flamethrowers, armed airplanes, and tanks—terrify and slaughter trench-dwelling soldiers. Bodies are soon counted by the millions. We’ll get a sample of this as we visit three particularly deadly areas of the Western Front: Ypres, Verdun, and the Somme.

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